Identifying and storing relevant user content in a collection accessible to user in website subscribed to service

ABSTRACT

A method, system and computer program product for maintaining a collection service for websites. A user preference for content desired to be viewed by the user subscribed to the collection service is acquired. Content may then be searched and reviewed both within and outside a website subscribed to the service by the collection service to identify the content of interest to the user using an artificial intelligence system based on the acquired user preference and a rule set. The artificial intelligence system is a learning system that learns the content of interest to the user based on the user&#39;s actions. The identified content of interest is then presented to the user in a container within the website subscribed to the service, where the container is a “reusable construct” in that it may appear to the user within any subscribed website.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to content collection services,and more particularly to identifying and storing relevant user contentin a collection (e.g., collection icon) accessible to the user in awebsite subscribed to the service maintaining the collection.

BACKGROUND

Users can receive information published by content creators (suchcreators may be referred to as “publishers”) to be read on a regularbasis, such as daily, weekly or monthly, for example. Users may do so bysubscribing (such users may be referred to as “subscribers”) withwebsite providers to create a subscription (a “subscription” indicatesthe topics or categories of interest to the user) to receive content ofinterest (e.g., articles, posts) related to particular topics orcategories when they visit websites.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for maintaining acollection service for websites comprises acquiring a user preferencefor content desired to be viewed by a user subscribed to a service. Themethod further comprises receiving a request from a website to subscribeto the service. The method additionally comprises searching andreviewing content both within and outside the website to identifycontent of interest to the user based on the acquired user preferenceand a ruleset. Furthermore, the method comprises presenting theidentified content of interest in a container within the websitesubscribed to the service.

Other forms of the embodiment of the method described above are in asystem and in a computer program product.

The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technicaladvantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention in orderthat the detailed description of the present invention that follows maybe better understood. Additional features and advantages of the presentinvention will be described hereinafter which may form the subject ofthe claims of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when thefollowing detailed description is considered in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system configured in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention of a hardwareconfiguration of a content identifier mechanism which is representativeof a hardware environment for practicing the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for subscribed websites to obtaingeneric information pertaining to a group of subscribed users inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for storing targeted, meaningfulcontent in a collection in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a screenshot of a webpage of a subscribed websitecontaining a container indicating the number of documents currently inthe container to be viewed by the user in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for further identifying relevantcontent to be presented in the container in response to the selection ofthe “use cognitive data” option within the container in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates the container containing the option of usingcognitive data in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention comprises a method, system and computer programproduct for maintaining a collection service for websites. In oneembodiment of the present invention, a user preference for contentdesired to be viewed by the user subscribed to the collection service isacquired. Such a collection service includes searching and identifyingrelevant content for subscribed users, which may be presented to theuser when the user visits a subscribed website, such as via a container(e.g., briefcase icon) on the website's homepage. Furthermore, such acollection service includes providing generic information to thesubscribed websites (such as the website owners) about a group ofsubscribed users, such as their browsing history. In one embodiment, theuser preferences discussed above may be acquired by the user providingsuch user preferences, or alternatively, may be acquired usingartificial intelligence based on analyzing the user's behavior. Contentmay then be searched and reviewed both within and outside a websitesubscribed to the service to identify the content of interest to theuser based on the acquired user preference and a rule set. For example,such content (e.g., articles, blog posts, tweets, industry news, clientinformation, etc.) may be searched and reviewed on the Internet as wellas within the subscribed website. The identified content of interest isthen presented to the user in a container (e.g., briefcase icon) withinthe website subscribed to the service, where the container is a“reusable construct” in that it may appear to the user within anysubscribed website. In this manner, the subscription is portable so thatthe user is able to carry the subscription with them to variouswebsites. That is, the subscription, which contains the topics orcategories of interest to the user, is used to identify content ofinterest for the user regardless of which website is currently beingaccessed by the user and can be used to populate the container withrelevant content, where the container can be displayed in any subscribedwebsite.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without such specific details. In other instances,well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order notto obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the mostpart, details considering timing considerations and the like have beenomitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a completeunderstanding of the present invention and are within the skills ofpersons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

While the following discusses the present invention in connection withwebsites, the principles of the present invention may be extended to anyapplication, such as a mobile application, or any smart device, such asan Internet of Things (IoT) device. For example, a subscribed user maybe able to view the container within the mobile application afteraccessing such a mobile application that is subscribed to the service.In another example, a subscribed user may able to view the container(e.g., contains content, such as recipes) on the IoT device (e.g., smartrefrigerator) subscribed to the service. A person of ordinary skill inthe art would be capable of applying the principles of the presentinvention to such implementations. Further, embodiments applying theprinciples of the present invention to such implementations would fallwithin the scope of the present invention.

Referring now to the Figures in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates an embodimentof the present invention of a communication system 100 for practicingthe principles of the present invention in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. Communication system 100 includes computingdevices 101A-101C (identified as “Computing Device A,” “Computing DeviceB,” and “Computing Device C,” respectively, in FIG. 1) connected to oneor more web servers 102A-102C (identified as “Web Server A,” “Web ServerB,” and “Web Server C,” respectively, in FIG. 1) via a network 103.Computing devices 101A-101C may collectively or individually be referredto as computing devices 101 or computing device 101, respectively. It isnoted that both computing devices 101 and the users of computing devices101 may be identified with element number 101. Furthermore, web servers102A-102C may collectively or individually be referred to as web servers102 or web server 102, respectively.

Computing device 101 may be any type of computing device (e.g., portablecomputing unit, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), laptop computer,mobile device, tablet personal computer, smartphone, mobile phone,navigation device, gaming unit, desktop computer system, workstation,Internet appliance and the like) configured with the capability ofconnecting to network 103 and consequently communicating with othercomputing devices 101 and web servers 102.

Network 103 may be, for example, a local area network, a wide areanetwork, a wireless wide area network, a circuit-switched telephonenetwork, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, aWireless Application Protocol (WAP) network, a WiFi network, an IEEE802.11 standards network, various combinations thereof, etc. Othernetworks, whose descriptions are omitted here for brevity, may also beused in conjunction with system 100 of FIG. 1 without departing from thescope of the present invention.

Web server 102 is configured to host websites and serve contents to theWorld Wide Web. Hence, web servers 102A-102C represent various webservers hosting various websites that are accessible by the users ofcomputing devices 101. Furthermore, web server 102 is configured toprocess incoming network requests over HTTP (Hypertext TransferProtocol) and several other related protocols.

System 100 further includes what is referred to herein as a “contentidentifier mechanism” 104 connected to network 103 by wire orwirelessly. Content identifier mechanism 104 is configured to provide acollection service for subscribed websites (or applications, such asmobile applications) and subscribed users. Such a collection serviceincludes searching and identifying relevant content for subscribed users(e.g., user of computing device 101A subscribed to the service), whichmay be presented to the user when the user visits a subscribed website,such as via a container displayed on the website's homepage.Furthermore, such a collection service includes providing genericinformation to the subscribed websites (such as the website owners)about a group of subscribed users, such as their browsing history. Suchinformation may be used by the subscribed websites to provide moretargeted content to the users visiting their websites. A furtherdescription of the functionality of content identifier mechanism 104 isprovided further below in connection with FIGS. 3-7. A description ofthe hardware configuration of content identifier mechanism 104 isprovided below in connection with FIG. 2.

Furthermore, system 100 may include an artificial intelligence system105 (e.g., IBM Watson®) connected to network 103, which may be used bycontent identifier mechanism 104 to determine the user preferences forcontent to be viewed by the user subscribed to the service, which may beexpressed as categories of interest, as well as identifying relevantcontent to be viewed by the user based on the user's categories ofinterest.

System 100 is not to be limited in scope to any one particular networkarchitecture. System 100 may include any number of computing devices101, web servers 102, networks 103, content identifier mechanisms 104and artificial intelligence systems 105. Furthermore, while FIG. 1illustrates content identifier mechanism 104 and artificial intelligencesystem 105 as being separate physical devices, some or all of thefunctionality of content identifier mechanism 104 and/or artificialintelligence system 105 may reside in computing device 101 and/or webserver 102.

Referring now to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration ofcontent identifier mechanism 104 (FIG. 1) which is representative of ahardware environment for practicing the present invention. Referring toFIG. 2, content identifier mechanism 104 has a processor 201 connectedto various other components by system bus 202. An operating system 203runs on processor 201 and provides control and coordinates the functionsof the various components of FIG. 2. An application 204 in accordancewith the principles of the present invention runs in conjunction withoperating system 203 and provides calls to operating system 203 wherethe calls implement the various functions or services to be performed byapplication 204. Application 204 may include, for example, a program forproviding a collection service for subscribed websites and users asdiscussed below in association with FIGS. 3-7.

Referring again to FIG. 2, read-only memory (“ROM”) 205 is connected tosystem bus 202 and includes a basic input/output system (“BIOS”) thatcontrols certain basic functions of content identifier mechanism 104.Random access memory (“RAM”) 206 and disk adapter 207 are also connectedto system bus 202. It should be noted that software components includingoperating system 203 and application 204 may be loaded into RAM 206,which may be content identifier mechanism's 104 main memory forexecution. Disk adapter 207 may be an integrated drive electronics(“IDE”) adapter that communicates with a disk unit 208, e.g., diskdrive. It is noted that the program for providing a collection servicefor subscribed websites and users, as discussed below in associationwith FIGS. 3-7, may reside in disk unit 208 or in application 204.

Content identifier mechanism 104 may further include a communicationsadapter 209 connected to bus 202. Communications adapter 209interconnects bus 202 with an outside network (e.g., network 103 ofFIG. 1) thereby allowing content identifier mechanism 104 to communicatewith computing devices 101 and web servers 102.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

Users are currently inundated with too much information published bycontent creators (such creators may be referred to as “publishers”) tobe read on a daily basis; however, such users still have a need to keepup with the latest information. As a result, users may subscribe (suchusers may be referred to as “subscribers”) with website providers tocreate a subscription (a “subscription” indicates the topics orcategories of interest to the user) to receive content of interest(e.g., articles, posts) related to particular topics or categories whenthey visit websites. However, such users are not able to carry theirsubscription with them to other websites. As a result, the user willhave to specify his/her preferences each time the user visits adifferent website, and furthermore, such preferences may vary based onthe organizational constructs of these websites. Such a process islaborsome and inefficient. As a result of such a laborsome andinefficient process, website providers have a low subscriberparticipation rate, which prevents the website providers from obtainingdata about the user (e.g., user behavior), which may be used to providecontent of interest to the user. Consequently, there is not currently ameans for enabling the subscription to follow the user across differentwebsites to identify content of interest for the user.

The embodiments of the present invention provide a means for enablingthe subscription to follow the user across different websites toidentify content of interest for the user as discussed below inconnection with FIGS. 3-7. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method forsubscribed websites to obtain generic information pertaining to a groupof subscribed users. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for storingtargeted, meaningful content in a collection. FIG. 5 illustrates ascreenshot of a webpage of a subscribed website containing a containerindicating the number of documents currently in the container to beviewed by the user. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for furtheridentifying relevant content to be presented in the container inresponse to the selection of the “use cognitive data” option within thecontainer. FIG. 7 illustrates the container containing the option ofusing cognitive data.

As stated above, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method 300 for subscribedwebsites to obtain generic information pertaining to a group ofsubscribed users, such as their browsing history, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-2, in step 301, contentidentifier mechanism 104 receives a request from a website (e.g.,website hosted by web server 102A) to subscribe to the “service.” The“subscribed service,” as used herein, refers to providing genericinformation to the subscribed websites (such as to the website owners)about a group of subscribed users, such as their browsing history. Suchinformation may be used by the subscribed websites to provide moretargeted content to the users. Furthermore, the “subscribed service,” asused herein, refers to searching and identifying relevant content forsubscribed users (e.g., user of computing device 101A subscribed to theservice), which may be presented to the user when the user visits asubscribed website, such as via a container displayed on the website'shomepage.

In one embodiment, the subscribed service is a software as a service(SaaS) hosted in the cloud.

In one embodiment, the request to subscribe to the service includes arequest to subscribe to one or more micro-services, where each of themicro-services corresponds to a category of interest of the subscribedusers, such as the subscribed users who have visited the subscribedwebsite. In one embodiment, the set of micro-services is pluggable, suchthat artificial intelligence capabilities could identify relevantcontent based on the category of interest (e.g., sports, weather, news)that a group of subscribed users identify or that are nominated to theusers by artificial intelligence system 105 for consideration andacceptance by the users. Each end user (user of computing device 101)can individually select what content preferences they have, or say “yes”or “no” to suggested content by artificial intelligence system 105, andif “yes,” make that category available via the micro-service.

In one embodiment, a set of application programming interfaces arefeatured as the subscribed micro-services.

In one embodiment, the service can be subscribed by the website owner,such as via a user interface.

It is noted that additional details concerning payment of the service inorder to subscribe to the service are not discussed herein for the sakeof brevity, where such details are known by a person of ordinary skillin the art.

In step 302, content identifier mechanism 104 receives query parametersfrom the subscribed website pertaining to the content and interests ofthe subscribed users, such as the subscribed users who have visited thesubscribed website. In one embodiment, such query parameters relate tothe subscribed micro-services (i.e., relate to the categories ofinterest of the subscribed users made available via the micro-services).

In step 303, content identifier mechanism 104 returns generic results tothe subscribed website pertaining to the content and interests for agroup of users subscribed to the service. In one embodiment, suchgeneric results include a set of content related information, whichallows the website owner to provide a more personalized experience forthe users visiting the website by being able to have access to theusers' interest levels across a broader spectrum of content than whathas surfaced within the website. In one embodiment, such generic resultsare about the users using the system, such as those visiting thesubscribed website, rather than an identifiable user to preserveconfidentiality and privacy.

In one embodiment, the subscribed service is populated with a set ofuser preferences as to the content desired to be viewed by thesubscribed users (discussed further below in connection with FIG. 4),such as those users visiting the subscribed website. In one embodiment,such a set of user preferences are “generic” in the sense thatindividual user preferences (e.g., preferences for the user of computingdevice 101A) are not specifically identified in the set of userpreferences. Instead, such a set of user preferences are formed based onthe preferences across a group of subscribed users visiting thesubscribed website.

In addition to the websites (website owners) subscribing to the service,individual users (e.g., users of computing devices 101) may subscribe tothe service so that relevant content is available for them to reviewwhen the user visits a subscribed website, such as via a containerdisplayed on the website's homepage, as discussed below in connectionwith FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for storing targeted, meaningfulcontent in a collection, referred to herein as the “container” or a“container icon,” in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-3, in step 401, contentidentifier mechanism 104 acquires a user preference for content desiredto be viewed by a user (e.g., user of computing device 101A) subscribedto the service. In one embodiment, such user preferences may be acquiredby content identifier mechanism 104 by the user providing such userpreferences directly to content identifier mechanism 104, such as via auser interface. In another embodiment, such user preferences may beacquired by content identifier mechanism 104 using artificialintelligence system 105 based on analyzing the user's behavior. Forexample, the user's browsing history may be analyzed by artificialintelligence system 105 to determine the interests of the user. Forinstance, the user may browse various baseball websites. As a result, itmay be inferred that the user has an interest in following baseball. Inanother example, the user may have purchased various Detroit Red Wings®memorabilia on various websites. As a result, it may be inferred thatthe user has an interest in following the Detroit Red Wings® hockeyteam. In one embodiment, such interests may be classified intocategories of interest (e.g., baseball, Detroit Red Wings® hockey team).Other examples include identifying the user's preferences by artificialintelligence system 105 based on what the user is taking the time toread as well as their indications of “liking” a selected content. Forexample, artificial intelligence system 105 may determine that the useris taking time to read a post pertaining to the Detroit Tigers® baseballteam, and therefore, concluded that the user has an interest infollowing the Detroit Tigers® baseball team. In one embodiment, suchuser preferences are dynamic in that they are constantly changing (orleast have the potential to constantly change).

In step 402, content identifier mechanism 104 detects the user (e.g.,user of computing device 101) accessing a website subscribed to theservice. For example, content identifier mechanism 104 may detect asubscribed user (e.g., user of computing device 101A) accessing asubscribed website (e.g., website hosted by web server 102A) based onthe user's computing device 101 requesting to access a resource (e.g.,webpage of website) located at a specified uniform resource locator(URL) provided by the browser of computing device 101. The InternetProtocol (IP) address assigned to the user's computing device 101 aswell as to the web server 102 hosting the website may be used to confirmthat the user and the website are subscribed to the service. In oneembodiment, such information (the IP addresses of subscribed websitesand users) may reside in a data structure, which may be stored in astorage device (e.g., memory 205, disk unit 208).

In step 403, content identifier mechanism 104 searches and reviews thecontent both within and outside the website subscribed to the service toidentify the content of interest to the user based on the acquired userpreference and a rule set. For example, such content (e.g., articles,blog posts, tweets, industry news, client information, etc.) may besearched and reviewed on the Internet as well as within the subscribedwebsite.

In one embodiment, content identifier mechanism 104 utilizes artificialintelligence system 105 for identifying the user's content of interestbased on the acquired user preference and the rule set. In oneembodiment, artificial intelligence system 105 determines the semanticsimilarity between the topics in the found documents with the categoriesof interests identified in the acquired user preference. In oneembodiment, such semantic similarity may be identified utilizing naturallanguage processing (e.g., WordNet based word similarity). The rule setmay then be used to determine how semantically similar the topic in thefound document needs to be with the category of interest of the user inorder for the found document to be identified as being a content ofinterest to the user.

A “rule set,” as used herein, refers to a collection of rules regardingidentifying content of interest for the user. Such rules may beestablished by the user or by an administrator. For example, asdiscussed above, such rules may include the required degree ofsimilarity between the topics discussed in a found document with respectto a category of interest of the user. For instance, a rule may requirethat the semantic similarity between the topic discussed in the founddocument with the category of interest of the user needs to exceed athreshold value before the found document is selected as a content ofinterest.

In one embodiment, when a rule set is executed, all the rules in therule set are evaluated at the same time against the data. The rule seteither passes or fails a percent of the rules in the rule set.

In one embodiment, such identified content of interest may be ranked (orscored) based on how semantically similar the identified content ofinterest is with the user's categories of interest. The moresemantically similar is the identified content of interest with theuser's categories of interest, the higher the ranking (or scoring) isthe identified content of interest.

In step 404, content identifier mechanism 104 presents the identifiedcontent of interest in a container within the website subscribed to theservice as shown in FIG. 5. In one embodiment, such identified contentof interest is presented in the container based on their ranking, wherethose content of interest with a higher ranking are presented prior tothose with a lower ranking. Such a container may be said to be a“reusable construct” in that it may appear to the user within anysubscribed website. In this manner, the subscription is portable so thatthe user is able to carry the subscription with them to variouswebsites. That is, the subscription, which contains the topics orcategories of interest to the user, is used to identify content ofinterest for the user regardless of which website is currently beingaccessed by the user and can be used to populate the container withrelevant content, where the container can be displayed in any subscribedwebsite.

FIG. 5 illustrates a screenshot of a webpage of a subscribed websitecontaining a container (e.g., briefcase icon) indicating the number ofdocuments currently in the container (e.g., briefcase) to be viewed bythe user in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the screenshot of the webpage 500 includes acontainer 501, such as a briefcase icon, indicating that there are twodocuments currently in the container (e.g., briefcase) to be viewed bythe user (e.g., user of computing device 101A).

Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, in one embodiment, the content incontainer 501 (e.g., briefcase icon) changes dynamically, based on whatartificial intelligence system 105 (such as IBM's Watson®) learns aboutthe user's most read articles or posts or interest areas, and the usercan provide feedback on the meaningfulness of the artificialintelligence selected content via a liking type mechanism. For example,the user can indicate whether the user “liked” the selected content forthe user to view.

In one embodiment, container 501 (e.g., briefcase icon) represents a“cognitive container,” whereby the user is able to set up parameters forthe container, such as the time range for storing active content in thecontainer; allowing items older than a certain number of days to bemoved to an archive for later retrieval, if desired; and limiting thenumber of items to be contained in the container. In addition, asdiscussed above, cognitive/artificial intelligence services 105 can beused to learn from the user's pattern of interest in the content, andonly include content in container 501 (e.g., briefcase icon) that shouldmeet a high scoring rule for the user as well as based on metrics tiedto what content the user has read. The user can “like” the content, tohelp the artificial intelligence service 105 learn more about whatinformation will interest the user. As a result, container 501 (e.g.,briefcase icon) is filled with only the information that is highlyranked that should be of interest to the user. Furthermore, in oneembodiment, container 501 is purged automatically so the user does nothave to waste time cleaning it out.

Additionally, in one embodiment, container 501 has a feature thatenables the user (e.g., user of computing device 101A) to enable furtherrelevant content of interest to be immediately found at that point intime as discussed below in connection with FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method 600 for further identifying relevantcontent to be presented in the container (e.g., briefcase icon) inresponse to the selection of the “use cognitive data” option within thecontainer (see element 501 of FIG. 5) in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-5, in step 601, contentidentifier mechanism 104 receives a selection of the “use cognitivedata” option within container 501 (e.g., briefcase icon) as shown inFIG. 7.

FIG. 7 illustrates container 501 (e.g., briefcase icon) containing theoption 701 of using cognitive data in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Returning to FIG. 6, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-5 and 7, upon the userselecting such an option, in step 602, content identifier mechanism 104identifies further relevant content of interest based on artificialintelligence using artificial intelligence system 105.

For example, once such a selection is enabled by the user (and causescontainer 501 to be cognitive), the following may be performed bycontent identifier mechanism 104 using the services of artificialintelligence system 105, such services including (1) IBM Watson® text tospeech service, such as to read RSS data to the user; (2) IBM Watson®natural language to comprehend user habits; (3) IBM Watson® assistantwith discovery to take input from the user and ask simple questions tobuild a cognitive search solution which would feed IBM Watson® newsintelligence application programming interface (API); (4) IBM Watson®news intelligence which would be used to interact with the news toidentify top entities (e.g., people, topics and companies); (5) IBMWatson® visual recognition which would enable the user to choose imagesthat they “like” and explain what the user is looking for; and (6) IBMWatson® alchemy language API which parses the tracked metrics data fromthe website or application activities. In one embodiment, IBM Watson®alchemy language API may parse data containing different types of dataand then reorganize the data based on pre-programmed rule sets orautomatically by a properly designed framework. In one embodiment, theIBM Watson® alchemy language API accomplishes such a feature byreviewing people, places, companies, topics, facts, relationships,authors and languages within the topics and descriptions of the dataconsumed by the user.

Once the new items are in the user's container 501, there may be an autoarchiving feature, which is adjustable by the user. For example, afterfive days of not being reviewed by the user, such documents would bemoved to another list (“soon to be archived”), where the “soon to bearchived” list would be removed from container 501 within auser-selected number of days (e.g., thirty days).

In one embodiment, the user (e.g., user of computing device 101) couldrespond with a “like” or a “dislike” of the presented content, wheresuch results may be provided to artificial intelligence system 105 toimprove its analysis in identifying relevant content for the user.

In one embodiment, the user may indicate a category of interest withincontainer 501. For example, a website that sells pet supplies maysubscribe to the service. A subscribed user may visit this website andselect container 501. Within container 501, the user may indicate aninterest in Siamese cats (e.g., a search field may exist withincontainer 501 that allows the user to insert topics of interest).Content identifier mechanism 104 may then use artificial intelligencesystem 105 to locate content relating to Siamese cats, and, if it findssuch content, will make it available the next time the user enters intothe container section 501 of this website or another subscribed website.

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention provide themeans for enabling the subscription to follow the user across differentwebsites to identify content of interest for the user.

Furthermore, the present invention improves the technology or technicalfield involving content collection systems. As discussed above, usersare currently inundated with too much information published by contentcreators (such creators may be referred to as “publishers”) to be readon a daily basis; however, such users still have a need to keep up withthe latest information. As a result, users may subscribe (such users maybe referred to as “subscribers”) with website providers to create asubscription (a “subscription” indicates the topics or categories ofinterest to the user) to receive content of interest (e.g., articles,posts) related to particular topics or categories when they visitwebsites. However, such users are not able to carry their subscriptionwith them to other websites. As a result, the user will have to specifyhis/her preferences each time the user visits a different website, andfurthermore, such preferences may vary based on the organizationalconstructs of these websites. Such a process is laborsome andinefficient. As a result of such a laborsome and inefficient process,website providers have a low subscriber participation rate, whichprevents the website providers from obtaining data about the user (e.g.,user behavior), which may be used to provide content of interest to theuser. Consequently, there is not currently a means for enabling thesubscription to follow the user across different websites to identifycontent of interest for the user.

The present invention improves such technology by enabling thesubscription to follow the user across different websites to identifycontent of interest for the user. A service may be subscribed by bothusers and websites, where such a subscribed service involves providinggeneric information to the subscribed websites (such as to the websiteowner) about a group of subscribed users, such as their browsinghistory, as well as involves searching and identifying relevant contentfor subscribed users (e.g., user of computing device 101A subscribed tothe service), which may be presented to the user when the user visits asubscribed website, such as via a container (e.g., briefcase icon) onthe website's homepage. Such relevant content may be identified by anartificial intelligence system searching and reviewing content bothwithin the subscribed website as well as outside the subscribed websiteusing the user's preferences and a rule set. Such relevant content maythen be presented to the user via a container (e.g., briefcase icon)within the subscribed website. In this manner, there is an improvementin the technical field of content collection systems.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

1. A method for maintaining a collection service for websites, themethod comprising: acquiring a user preference for content desired to beviewed by a user subscribed to a service; receiving a request from awebsite to subscribe to said service; searching and reviewing contentboth within and outside said website to identify content of interest tosaid user based on said acquired user preference and a ruleset, whereinsaid ruleset comprises a collection of rules regarding identifyingcontent of interest for said user, wherein said rules comprise arequired degree of semantic similarity between a topic discussed in saidcontent reviewed and a category of interest identified in said acquireduser preference in order for said content to be identified as saidcontent of interest to said user, wherein said required degree ofsemantic similarity corresponds to a threshold value, wherein saidsemantic similarity is identified using natural language processing;ranking said identified content of interest based on how semanticallysimilar said identified content of interest is with said category ofinterest of said user; presenting said identified content of interest ina container on a webpage within said website subscribed to said servicebased on their ranking, wherein said container is a reusable constructthat appears to said user within any subscribed website as well aswithin a mobile application after said user accesses said mobileapplication that is subscribed to said service, wherein said containeris presented on said webpage as an icon which displays a number ofdocuments currently in said container to be viewed by said user; andarchiving contents of said container not viewed by said user within aperiod of time.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:receiving a request from said website to subscribe to one or moremicro-services, wherein each of said one or more micro-servicescorresponds to a category of interest of a group of subscribed users,wherein said one or more micro-services are pluggable such thatartificial intelligence capabilities identify said content of interestfor said user based on a category of interest that said group ofsubscribed users identify.
 3. The method as recited in claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving query parameters from said website pertaining tocontent and interests of subscribed users, wherein said query parametersrelate to categories of interest of said subscribed users made availablevia micro-services; and returning generic results to said websitepertaining to content and interests for a group of users subscribed tosaid service, wherein specific users are not identified in said returnedgeneric results.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:receiving a selection of an option depicted as an icon within saidcontainer to perform a further search to identify further relevantcontent of interest using artificial intelligence.
 5. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein said user preference for content desired tobe viewed by said user is acquired via artificial intelligence and/ordirectly provided by said user.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein said archived content is automatically removed after auser-designated period of time.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1further comprising: receiving an indication of a category of interestwithin said container from said user; using artificial intelligence tolocate content related to said indicated category of interest; andproviding said located content to said user at a following time saiduser accesses said container.
 8. A computer program product formaintaining a collection service for websites, the computer programproduct comprising a computer readable storage medium having programcode embodied therewith, the program code comprising the programminginstructions for: acquiring a user preference for content desired to beviewed by a user subscribed to a service; receiving a request from awebsite to subscribe to said service; searching and reviewing contentboth within and outside said website to identify content of interest tosaid user based on said acquired user preference and a ruleset, whereinsaid ruleset comprises a collection of rules regarding identifyingcontent of interest for said user, wherein said rules comprise arequired degree of semantic similarity between a topic discussed in saidcontent reviewed and a category of interest identified in said acquireduser preference in order for said content to be identified as saidcontent of interest to said user, wherein said required degree ofsemantic similarity corresponds to a threshold value, wherein saidsemantic similarity is identified using natural language processing;ranking said identified content of interest based on how semanticallysimilar said identified content of interest is with said category ofinterest of said user; presenting said identified content of interest ina container on a webpage within said website subscribed to said servicebased on their ranking, wherein said container is a reusable constructthat appears to said user within any subscribed website as well aswithin a mobile application after said user accesses said mobileapplication that is subscribed to said service, wherein said containeris presented on said webpage as an icon which displays a number ofdocuments currently in said container to be viewed by said user; andarchiving contents of said container not viewed by said user within aperiod of time.
 9. The computer program product as recited in claim 8,wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructionsfor: receiving a request from said website to subscribe to one or moremicro-services, wherein each of said one or more micro-servicescorresponds to a category of interest of a group of subscribed users,wherein said one or more micro-services are pluggable such thatartificial intelligence capabilities identify said content of interestfor said user based on a category of interest that said group ofsubscribed users identify.
 10. The computer program product as recitedin claim 8, wherein the program code further comprises the programminginstructions for: receiving query parameters from said websitepertaining to content and interests of subscribed users, wherein saidquery parameters relate to categories of interest of said subscribedusers made available via micro-services; and returning generic resultsto said website pertaining to content and interests for a group of userssubscribed to said service, wherein specific users are not identified insaid returned generic results.
 11. The computer program product asrecited in claim 8, wherein the program code further comprises theprogramming instructions for: receiving a selection of an optiondepicted as an icon within said container to perform a further search toidentify further relevant content of interest using artificialintelligence.
 12. The computer program product as recited in claim 8,wherein said user preference for content desired to be viewed by saiduser is acquired via artificial intelligence and/or directly provided bysaid user.
 13. The computer program product as recited in claim 8,wherein said archived content is automatically removed after auser-designated period of time.
 14. The computer program product asrecited in claim 8, wherein the program code further comprises theprogramming instructions for: receiving an indication of a category ofinterest within said container from said user; using artificialintelligence to locate content related to said indicated category ofinterest; and providing said located content to said user at a followingtime said user accesses said container.
 15. A system, comprising: amemory for storing a computer program for maintaining a collectionservice for websites; and a processor connected to said memory, whereinsaid processor is configured to execute the program instructions of thecomputer program comprising: acquiring a user preference for contentdesired to be viewed by a user subscribed to a service; receiving arequest from a website to subscribe to said service; searching andreviewing content both within and outside said website to identifycontent of interest to said user based on said acquired user preferenceand a ruleset, wherein said ruleset comprises a collection of rulesregarding identifying content of interest for said user, wherein saidrules comprise a required degree of semantic similarity between a topicdiscussed in said content reviewed and a category of interest identifiedin said acquired user preference in order for said content to beidentified as said content of interest to said user, wherein saidrequired degree of semantic similarity corresponds to a threshold value,wherein said semantic similarity is identified using natural languageprocessing; ranking said identified content of interest based on howsemantically similar said identified content of interest is with saidcategory of interest of said user; presenting said identified content ofinterest in a container on a webpage within said website subscribed tosaid service based on their ranking, wherein said container is areusable construct that appears to said user within any subscribedwebsite as well as within a mobile application after said user accessessaid mobile application that is subscribed to said service, wherein saidcontainer is presented on said webpage as an icon which displays anumber of documents currently in said container to be viewed by saiduser; and archiving contents of said container not viewed by said userwithin a period of time.
 16. The system as recited in claim 15, whereinthe program instructions of the computer program further comprise:receiving a request from said website to subscribe to one or moremicro-services, wherein each of said one or more micro-servicescorresponds to a category of interest of a group of subscribed users,wherein said one or more micro-services are pluggable such thatartificial intelligence capabilities identify said content of interestfor said user based on a category of interest that said group ofsubscribed users identify.
 17. The system as recited in claim 15,wherein the program instructions of the computer program furthercomprise: receiving query parameters from said website pertaining tocontent and interests of subscribed users, wherein said query parametersrelate to categories of interest of said subscribed users made availablevia micro-services; and returning generic results to said websitepertaining to content and interests for a group of users subscribed tosaid service, wherein specific users are not identified in said returnedgeneric results.
 18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein theprogram instructions of the computer program further comprise: receivinga selection of an option depicted as an icon within said container toperform a further search to identify further relevant content ofinterest using artificial intelligence.
 19. The system as recited inclaim 15, wherein said user preference for content desired to be viewedby said user is acquired via artificial intelligence and/or directlyprovided by said user.
 20. The system as recited in claim 15, whereinsaid archived content is automatically removed after a user-designatedperiod of time.